THE STARS SHONE

a little too long, but brightly at the 2007 Barbados Music Awards (BMAs) Friday night

at The Gymnasium

at the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex.

Hosted for the second year by Timeless Barbados Inc., the two-man team sought to reward Barbadian talent in the entertainment industry.

And with several record producers from the United States and other record executives in attendance, many artistes called the five-hour show a great success and "an excellent opportunity".

"I am a living testimony

of what this show can do for you," said Dwayne Husbands who performed at the inaugural

BMA and since then got

the opportunity to create

a duet with Rihanna.

"The BMA is a great

avenue for artistes who having been in the background

for a long time to come off that shelf and show the rest of the world, not only locally and

in the Caribbean, what Barbados has to offer," he said.

Edwin Yearwood, Krosfyah's lead singer, said that the show was very professional. He said that it moved his soul to see legends like Lord Radio and Adonijah being appreciated.

"I believe people like Lord Radio, Richard Stoute and the likes should never go unheard of. It is also important to have that mix with the new artistes like Hal Linton and others to create bridges. They get to know the will-power and the fighting spirit. Our music industry will benefit tremendously," he said.

One of the night's diva's Terencia TC Coward who collected two awards - Best Ragga-Soca Single (Female) and Best Social Commentary (Female) - out of her three categories applauded the event

as "a huge undertaking".

"Hats off to Timeless . . . the Government did not do this, the National Cultural Foundation did not do it. Two young men were brave enough to say this needs

to be done.

"In terms of the promotion

of Barbadian music, it does not get any better than this. It makes every artiste work harder

to achieve.

This is what Barbados music industry needs," she lauded. (TM)

* tracymoore@nationnews.com